


Cockroaches are hard to kill

by Mee (4Mee)



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 5x13, Canon Compliant, Episode: s05e13 Damocles Part 2, F/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 10:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4Mee/pseuds/Mee
Summary: He's heard about people being overcome by a feeling of peace and acceptance in the face of their imminent death. All Murphy feels right now is being shit-scared.





	Cockroaches are hard to kill

„I need to get closer.“

„Get closer, I'll cover you,“ Murphy says without thinking twice.

„John,“ Emori warns as he scrambles past her to return to the passenger seat of the rover.

„John, you'll get hit!“ Emori now screams over the noise of gunfire all around them.

„I thought you said you didn't care,“ he replies bitterly as he adjusts the weapon of the rover, and as if on cue, a bullet sears through the windshield and finds its way into his right shoulder.

The force of impact pushes him back into the seat. He yelps out in pain, before gritting his teeth and starting to fire at their enemies. His hands clutch the handle in a death grip until he notices Bellamy motioning for him to stop shooting. His left hand instantly moves to press against the wound in his shoulder, his eyes squeezed shut in pain.

Emori starts to pull him away from the windshield, but the bullets still flying through the air are faster. Murphy lets out a scream as he feels another sharp blow in his chest.

When Emori finally manages to drag him into the back of the rover, she is quick to assess the damage. Outside, another explosion is heard, followed by silence. The gunfire has stopped. Murphy squirms under Emori's hands and rolls over to get on his knees. „It's fine,“ he pants as he sits up, „I'll be fine, now let's get out of here.“

Emori gets to her feet wordlessly, knowing that there's no use in arguing with him now. As she helps Murphy into an upright position she silently checks his back for exit wounds, and, when finding none, climbs out of the rover with him.

Bellamy and Echo are already gone, the rest of Wonkru rushing after them, their battle cries echoing through the gorge, but Murphy barely notices any of it. The fire in his body demands all of his attention. He's running blindly, aimlessly, with Emori keeping him on his feet and leading the way.

Their hectic journey is all a blur to Murphy. As they run, he hears Emori tell someone that he's been hit, but Murphy is too distracted to follow the hasty conversation. At some point he registers a change in scenery, as they stumble over the rough ground of a forest. It's becoming increasingly more difficult for him to push forwards, and it seems to him that Emori is having trouble keeping him upright as well.

Just when he thinks his knees are about to buckle beneath him, he chokes out a breathless „wait, wait, wait, stop a second.“ Emori doesn't get enough heads-up to gently lower him to the ground, instead he just unceremoniously slumps against the nearest tree.

By now every breath that he takes sends lightning bolts through is entire body. He dimly hears Emori's voice through the ringing in his ears, calling Niylah for help. A split second later she is at his other side, barely taking a close look at the profusely bleeding wounds in his torso. She glances at Emori, dejectedly. „He won't make it.“ With that she simply rises to her feet and turns away. „We have to go without him.“

Murphy stares straight ahead, just now really taking in his surroundings. The seeming endlessness of the forest all around them. Their destination nowhere in sight. The ill-boding wail of sirens in the distance. It's the first time he realizes Monty and Harper are there, and he lamely wonders when they got here.

As he sits there, his friends towering above him and the ancient trees towering above them, he feels incredibly small. All his energy quickly draining from him along with his blood. So, this is how it ends? This is how he dies?

He's heard about people being overcome by a feeling of peace and acceptance in the face of their imminent death. All Murphy feels right now is being shit-scared.

The scene is playing out in his mind. Sitting here in the cold dirt, watching everyone run towards safety until the last person disappears from his sight. Hearing no more sounds except the nerve-wracking siren--

„Show the others the way,“ he hears Monty say then, „I'll take Murphy.“

No, he thinks. That's not an option. There's no way in hell he can get back on his feet, let alone run any more. He'll only slow down the others and then none of them makes it in time and they all die, and no matter how scared he is of being left behind to die all alone, dragging his friends down with him when they have a perfectly good chance to make it out of this mess alive is not an option.

He doesn't look at Monty, not even when he crouches down beside him and gently touches his arm. His eyes are fixed on Emori as she moves back over to his side. Her survival is now priority.

„She's right,“ he pants, and he's barely getting the words out now. „Just go on. It's too far. There's not enough time.“

„Then I guess we're both gonna die,“ Emori says as she looks him dead in the eye, „because there's no way in hell I can leave the man I love behind.“

Suddenly there's a pain in Murphy's chest that has nothing to do with his gunshot wounds. Hearing her say those words after everything they've been through the last few months is both the best and the worst thing. There is so much emotion in her voice, in her eyes, that he knows it's the truth. She's not just saying that because that's what he wants to hear. He also knows that she knows he'd never allow for her to die, so the reason she chose to phrase it like that is to push him to keep going. Which makes it all the worse because he knows she's asking the impossible of him. With that realization he shakes his head, tears pricking his eyes. „Look, I'm not gonna do that to you, Emori. I can't run.“

„Yes, you can,“ she tries again, getting desperate.

„No.“ Murphy turns to look at Monty, bewildered. „But I can.“

Before Murphy gets a chance to protest more than a feeble „Monty“, his friend is already heaving him onto his shoulders, eliciting an agonized cry from his throat at the intensifying pain the pressure on his wounded body causes him. For a second he feels completely winded, gasping for breath, and drawing in enough air to let out another blood-curdling scream. And Monty just runs, runs as fast as his legs will carry him and the additional weight on his shoulders.

Murphy wracks his brain trying to find something to distract himself from the intense pain. He looks at the ground, sees Emori's feet whirl up leaves and dirt as she jogs beside him. But the sight rushing through his field of vision along with the position he's in now only adds to the dizziness and nausea he already feels from pain and blood loss, so he squeezes his eyes shut and concentrates on the ominous siren instead.

Slowly, he feels himself slipping from consciousness, his head starting to feel really light, the pain dulling, and the sounds around him fading. In the back of his mind he knows he shouldn't give in to the welcoming darkness, knows that if he does he might not find his way back, might never see Emori again. But he's beyond exhausted...

„Bellamy! Wait!“

Murphy frowns. It's almost like he feels the words vibrating through his body before he hears them. He distantly hears more voices, but can't quite make out what they say.

The running motion stops and he feels himself falling off of Monty's shoulders. The change of his position confuses him for a moment, the tips of his shoes connect with the ground, and he can't get his feet to work, but he's not landing in a heap on the ground, so someone must be holding him up still. He's still got his eyes closed, but even if he was able to open them, Murphy is sure he wouldn't be able to focus enough to make sense of his surroundings. Suddenly someone appears at his side.

„Did we make it...?“ Murphy slurs dazedly.

The person beside him roughly grabs his right arm and yanks it over his shoulder. The pull at his wounds sends shooting pain through his body once again and Murphy's face screws up in agony.

So much for blissfully passing out.

Now fully back to consciousness, Murphy manages to pry his eyes open. The sight of the ship right in front of him is an immense relief. Despite his friends basically carrying his entire weight, he still moves his legs around in an illusion they'll reach the ship faster.

Once inside, everyone takes a second to catch their breath. The floor of the ship starts vibrating as it is launched. It has barely lifted off the ground when suddenly a gigantic jolt rocks the entire ship, almost knocking the trio off their feet.

As soon as they regain their balance, Murphy hears Monty speak up urgently. „We need to get him to Abby!“

„Follow me,“ a voice offers, and Murphy thinks it might be Clarke's.

Murphy also thinks his body has used up all of its adrenaline, because he's starting to feel faint again. He lets himself be dragged through the dark corridors of the ship, hoping they get to Abby in time and that she can save him. It would really suck if he died _now_ , now that they've actually made it to safety.

The next minutes pass in a blur. Murphy barely registers as he's being lifted onto a table. Voices are shouting all around him.

„Need some help over here!“

Murphy weakly turns his head a little to the left and sees Clarke's face hovering above him. She smiles down at him reassuringly. „You're gonna be fine, don't worry.“ She then raises her gaze to the person appearing at Murphy's right. „Where's my mom?“

Murphy turns his head just in time to see Jackson start cutting off his shirt to reveal the bullet holes. „She's working on Kane.“

Everything starts spinning around him, and Murphy finds comfort in the thought that he's in good hands now, before finally slipping into blissful nothingness.

After that, it takes Murphy a while to fight his way through a flurry of clouds towards the surface of consciousness again, and when he does he is slightly worried about the absence of pain. He forces his eyes open to make sure he's still alive. Once again he is met with Clarke's face.

„Welcome back,“ she says, and Murphy thinks he sees relief in her eyes. That's a good sign, right? „How are you feeling?“

Murphy contemplates the question for a moment, licks his dry lips before getting his mouth to work. „Not sure,“ he croaks hoarsely. „Better than before, I guess...?“

„That's good. We managed to dig out both bullets and stop the bleeding. You still lost a lot of blood, but it looks like you're out of the woods.“

Literally, Murphy thinks lamely as he remembers the forest he nearly died in, and the endless trees all around him, and Emori.

_Emori._

„Emori?“

Clarke smiles. „I'll go get her,“ she says and turns to leave.

„Clarke,“ Murphy stops her just as she reaches the door. „It's good to see you.“

„It's good to see you, too, Murphy.“

**Author's Note:**

> I was planning on including a scene where Bellamy comes and invites Murphy and Emori to the meeting on the bridge, but I couldn't for the life of me construct a meaningful Memori scene, and I didn't want to just skip over it, so I ended it where I ended it instead.


End file.
